Adding Integrated Turn Signal Mirrors to SR5

[greenieweinee]

Hello all, thanks for having me!

I'm really loving my truck and I am very grateful for the user community here. This is my first auto forum post ever so please be gentle. Please skip the <rant> section at the end if you want to avoid more Toyota whining.

I recently received an order of OEM integrated turn signal mirrors hoping they would be plug and play for my SR5 but they are not. It does look like the wire for the turn signal is already there in the door harness (pink next to black on the mirror assembly, sky blue next to black/white on the door harness. Pic of original SR5 mirror assembly plug included to show the missing pink wire) but when I plug them in they don't light up. I've tried both sides in case of a faulty mirror assembly but no dice. After doing some googles it doesn't seem like there is a missing separate fuse or anything for integrated turn signals in either the cabin or engine boxes.

I came across a few YouTube/forum posts about 3G owners trying to do this and finding that their door harnesses were not prewired for the turn signals. Those folks tapped into the front turn signal lamps. Given that all the pins/wires are present in the 4G SR5 harness, I am hoping that this is a different situation and that an easier/cleaner solution will present itself. I haven't been able to find any success stories online (please ridicule and forgive me if I am missing a post from this forum).

I am as ignorant and inexperienced as they come when it comes to cars/electronics so I'm a bit stuck on where to look next. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much for your time!

P.S. (rant)
One of the most annoying things that Toyota has been doing for the last decade is to steadily remove these integrated turn signal mirrors from their lower trims. There are very common situations (such as when you and a car 2 lanes away are slightly offset and both looking to merge into the lane between you - like the space between two close distance highway on/off ramps) where that extra visibility can come into play. And with the removal of amber rear turn signals from all of their trucks (I understand it's been that way for a while now but my only other pickup ownership experiences have been with 1G Tundras), turn signal visibility is already relatively compromised from any rear angle. Call me a coward but I believe these things are worth optimizing when regularly pushing 2-3 tons of steel at upwards of 80mph and in coordination with the entire range of the driving population.

My sister in law's 2012 4Runner base SR5 has them, my 2016 4Runner SR5 did not (I was once young and not so safety conscious; age and a respect for physics have since made me a different consumer) but they were at least an option AFAIK.

Now in 2024 they are not even an option for SR5 (Tacoma or 6G 4R), and a very pricy upgrade for Sport/TRD OR due to bundling with a bunch of other things that people may not need or even want (like that massive iMac of a touchscreen). My original plan was to find the cheapest TRD OR I could find with the option but there was no such inventory below $52k and I was able to secure a very attractive lease deal on an upgraded SR5. I figured I'd be able to figure out a solution for less than what the delta in cost would be.

I am neither ignorant to nor butthurt about the increased costs that come with new semiconductors, cameras, radar, general R&D, inflation, capitalism, etc. But, I wish they would have saved some money on developing gimmicky features (like the removable JBL speaker ) rather than price gouge over safety features to push people into higher trims. In my eyes this is pure, shameless greed.

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[dvrgz]

I haven't been able to find any success stories online (please ridicule and forgive me if I am missing a post from this forum).

It’s been talked about here in this forum before but never attempted. You’ve come the furthest it seems. I have an SR5 too and have been wanting to do this (along with the integrated bed scene lighting)

I recently received an order of OEM integrated turn signal mirrors

Where did you get them ? Can you drop a link ?

I am as ignorant and inexperienced as they come when it comes to cars/electronics so I'm a bit stuck on where to look next. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much for your time!

Same. Appreciate you tackling this.

 

[TOYODUDE]

It’s been talked about here in this forum before but never attempted. You’ve come the furthest it seems. I have an SR5 too and have been wanting to do this (along with the integrated bed scene lighting)



Where did you get them ? Can you drop a link ?



Same. Appreciate you tackling this.

 

[4GElsa]

Hello all, thanks for having me!

I'm really loving my truck and I am very grateful for the user community here. This is my first auto forum post ever so please be gentle. Please skip the <rant> section at the end if you want to avoid more Toyota whining.

I recently received an order of OEM integrated turn signal mirrors hoping they would be plug and play for my SR5 but they are not. It does look like the wire for the turn signal is already there in the door harness (pink next to black on the mirror assembly, sky blue next to black/white on the door harness. Pic of original SR5 mirror assembly plug included to show the missing pink wire) but when I plug them in they don't light up. I've tried both sides in case of a faulty mirror assembly but no dice. After doing some googles it doesn't seem like there is a missing separate fuse or anything for integrated turn signals in either the cabin or engine boxes.

I came across a few YouTube/forum posts about 3G owners trying to do this and finding that their door harnesses were not prewired for the turn signals. Those folks tapped into the front turn signal lamps. Given that all the pins/wires are present in the 4G SR5 harness, I am hoping that this is a different situation and that an easier/cleaner solution will present itself. I haven't been able to find any success stories online (please ridicule and forgive me if I am missing a post from this forum).

I am as ignorant and inexperienced as they come when it comes to cars/electronics so I'm a bit stuck on where to look next. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much for your time!

P.S. (rant)
One of the most annoying things that Toyota has been doing for the last decade is to steadily remove these integrated turn signal mirrors from their lower trims. There are very common situations (such as when you and a car 2 lanes away are slightly offset and both looking to merge into the lane between you - like the space between two close distance highway on/off ramps) where that extra visibility can come into play. And with the removal of amber rear turn signals from all of their trucks (I understand it's been that way for a while now but my only other pickup ownership experiences have been with 1G Tundras), turn signal visibility is already relatively compromised from any rear angle. Call me a coward but I believe these things are worth optimizing when regularly pushing 2-3 tons of steel at upwards of 80mph and in coordination with the entire range of the driving population.

My sister in law's 2012 4Runner base SR5 has them, my 2016 4Runner SR5 did not (I was once young and not so safety conscious; age and a respect for physics have since made me a different consumer) but they were at least an option AFAIK.

Now in 2024 they are not even an option for SR5 (Tacoma or 6G 4R), and a very pricy upgrade for Sport/TRD OR due to bundling with a bunch of other things that people may not need or even want (like that massive iMac of a touchscreen). My original plan was to find the cheapest TRD OR I could find with the option but there was no such inventory below $52k and I was able to secure a very attractive lease deal on an upgraded SR5. I figured I'd be able to figure out a solution for less than what the delta in cost would be.

I am neither ignorant to nor butthurt about the increased costs that come with new semiconductors, cameras, radar, general R&D, inflation, capitalism, etc. But, I wish they would have saved some money on developing gimmicky features (like the removable JBL speaker ) rather than price gouge over safety features to push people into higher trims. In my eyes this is pure, shameless greed.

Any update on this? have you found a solution to why it doesn’t work? I have a TRDOR and don’t have integrated turn signals. I too also want to do this to my truck.

 

[greenieweinee]

Hi, sorry for the late reply. I was only able to get to this about a week ago.

Again I am leasing this vehicle so my solution is not permanent and is not the cleanest.

I ended up just tapping into the front turn signal wires. The video that I (and probably all of you if you're reading this) saw with the 3G owner (link below) had me thinking there was a single wire for both the DRL and turn signal power. His side mirror lights stayed on like a DRL when not flashing. I guess he tapped into the DRL wire and it was flashing off with the turn signal.

I just ran the wire in a loom down into the engine bay and between the frame and body. There are some brackets for factory harnesses, brake lines, etc. that you can zip tie onto. I was careful around the brake lines, although I'm sure the quick splices and thin wire would fail before any meaningful force was put on those metal lines.

There is a conveniently placed gap in the panels that make up the lower part of the door sill. The wire exits the loom under the body and fits into that gap. From there I taped it up, across the hinge, and up to a gap in the door panel above the single plastic push rivet (below the triangular trim that covers the side mirror bolts). This does "break" the outer seal on the door but there is an inner seal that stays intact and I don't plan on crossing any rivers. At least the seal is broken on the bottom, so rain will probably not be an issue.

This is an ugly solution but even if I had purchased this vehicle I would have the same thing. I don't see how it would be possible to snake the wire through the existing harness/hole in the rubber firewall plug, much less get it up through the inner cavity of the door.

For other aftermarket stuff like subwoofer installs people like to poke a hole through the firewall plug. You would still need to run the wire across to the door somehow, although you could probably hide it better up until that point. The idea of having those holes bothers me and I would not do that to the potential next owner.

Notes:
- I will follow up with part numbers when I have more time.

- The 3G video guy also adds a ground wire. Not sure why he needed that. He didn't have blind spot monitoring but shouldn't his harness still have a ground for power mirror adjustment?

Links:
- 3G guy:
- Poking through firewall plug:
- Removing door panel:

@4GElsa this may be wishful thinking but because TRD OR has the turn signal lights as an option it's possible your wiring harness might be complete/functional for a plug and play. That would be amazing and I'm sure people would love to know if that's the case (the Sport would probably be the same). You could just test if the baby blue wire in the last picture of my original post gets current when you signal/hazard.

 

[4GElsa]

Hi, sorry for the late reply. I was only able to get to this about a week ago.

Again I am leasing this vehicle so my solution is not permanent and is not the cleanest.

I ended up just tapping into the front turn signal wires. The video that I (and probably all of you if you're reading this) saw with the 3G owner (link below) had me thinking there was a single wire for both the DRL and turn signal power. His side mirror lights stayed on like a DRL when not flashing. I guess he tapped into the DRL wire and it was flashing off with the turn signal.

I just ran the wire in a loom down into the engine bay and between the frame and body. There are some brackets for factory harnesses, brake lines, etc. that you can zip tie onto. I was careful around the brake lines, although I'm sure the quick splices and thin wire would fail before any meaningful force was put on those metal lines.

There is a conveniently placed gap in the panels that make up the lower part of the door sill. The wire exits the loom under the body and fits into that gap. From there I taped it up, across the hinge, and up to a gap in the door panel above the single plastic push rivet (below the triangular trim that covers the side mirror bolts). This does "break" the outer seal on the door but there is an inner seal that stays intact and I don't plan on crossing any rivers. At least the seal is broken on the bottom, so rain will probably not be an issue.

This is an ugly solution but even if I had purchased this vehicle I would have the same thing. I don't see how it would be possible to snake the wire through the existing harness/hole in the rubber firewall plug, much less get it up through the inner cavity of the door.

For other aftermarket stuff like subwoofer installs people like to poke a hole through the firewall plug. You would still need to run the wire across to the door somehow, although you could probably hide it better up until that point. The idea of having those holes bothers me and I would not do that to the potential next owner.

Notes:
- I will follow up with part numbers when I have more time.

- The 3G video guy also adds a ground wire. Not sure why he needed that. He didn't have blind spot monitoring but shouldn't his harness still have a ground for power mirror adjustment?

Links:
- 3G guy:
- Poking through firewall plug:
- Removing door panel:

@4GElsa this may be wishful thinking but because TRD OR has the turn signal lights as an option it's possible your wiring harness might be complete/functional for a plug and play. That would be amazing and I'm sure people would love to know if that's the case (the Sport would probably be the same). You could just test if the baby blue wire in the last picture of my original post gets current when you signal/hazard.

Damn, well thank you for the update. I’ll try and see if there is current in the baby blue wire you’re talking about.

 

[crepr12]

Hmmmn...I dont have a SR5 but did enjoy the panel removal vid

 

[greenieweinee]

Hmmmn...I dont have a SR5 but did enjoy the panel removal vid

Yes, she is abnormally attractive. What's more noticeable to me though is how thirsty you'd have to be to comment on that.. on a thread that's irrelevant to you .

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